


Sunnydale Kitchen

by echolehane



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 10:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10919721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echolehane/pseuds/echolehane
Summary: When Buffy and Faith go head-to-head in the kitchen, who will end up on top? // Cutthroat Kitchen AU.





	Sunnydale Kitchen

**Author's Note:**

> I think this came out a little stilted as I tried to match the plot and pace of the show without boring everyone with the detailed process. I hope it doesn't end up too horrid. 
> 
> Also, if you've never seen Cutthroat Kitchen (which you really should) you don't have to stress. Just enjoy the Fuffy bickering.

“So, what do you wanna do if you win?”

The voice brought Faith back to herself, drawing her away from the bright lights and the cameras and the makeup crew bustling around. She hadn’t expected it to be like this, but then again she should have been prepared. They were on the ever famous _Cutthroat Kitchen_ after all.

Faith turned to look at the girl who had spoken to her. Cordelia, her chef’s shirt said. She was tall, a few inches taller than Faith, and had long brown hair twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. Even her face screamed ‘posh’, so much so that Faith actually had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

“Pop up restaurants,” she answered easily. It had always been a dream, and they were only growing more popular as the years went by. If she could make a decent business, get people excited about her restaurants, it could be a great time. And it was something she’d figured would be fun to try.

“You?” she asked.

“Upscale five-star restaurant in the heart of LA,” Cordelia answered without missing a beat. It almost sounded rehearsed, at least to Faith’s ears. “Serving the best, by the best.” There was a small, smug smile that accompanied this last line, and Faith fought the urge to roll her eyes. _Great. A princess._

The only male in the group spoke before anyone else could follow on.

“I’m going to start a seafood restaurant,” Xander – at least, that’s what his shirt said – chimed in. “What about you Buffy?”

The last girl in the quartet was a mystery to Faith. She was tiny and blonde, and her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She pulled it off, though that could be with the aid of the bandanna tied around her head. It shouldn’t work, at least so she thought, but it did. Her chef’s shirt said ‘Buffy’, though that had to be the stupidest name in the world, in Faith’s opinion. Without even saying it out loud, she vowed to never use that name. God, could you imagine?

“World-renowed pastry business for me,” Buffy grinned as she said it. “I want chefs all over the world to know and use my techniques, and I want people to come from everywhere just to try my desserts.”

“Oh, sure,” the words slipped past Faith’s lips before she had a chance to stop them. “But pastry-making isn’t really a business.”

The darkening shade of Buffy’s eyes should have been Faith’s first indication that she’d pissed the blonde off, but it was followed by a snarl and a long, infuriated inhale.

“Well neither are pop up restaurants,” Buffy bit back. “They’re not an official restaurant.”

Faith opened her mouth to retort but at that time the host called for their attention and gave them another run down of the rules. Then Alton – she remembered his name after just a second, which must be some sort of a record for her – gave them a huge performer’s smile and the camera started rolling.

As Alton talked, Faith kept stealing sideways glances at Buffy. Alton just repeated to them what they’d been told a hundred times already. The theme is Halloween, they’ll get a certain amount of money, et cetera, et cetera. Faith tried to pay attention but the tiny blonde ball of rage beside her seemed really pissed off about her pastry comment. _Yikes._

Alton then announced their first dish: devilled eggs. Faith tried not to groan at the irony of the dish’s name, and focused her energy instead on thinking of a list of ingredients. She quickly tried to think up the things she could need, and the next thing she knew they were grabbing their baskets and racing towards the pantry. Cordelia had longer legs than both of the other girls, and she was closer, so she pushed her way through the doorway first, Xander hot on her heels. Faith and Buffy reached the door at the same time, and the blonde’s shove just made Faith shove back harder.

Eventually, though, they both managed to get inside the pantry, where Cordelia and Xander were both already collecting ingredients. Faith headed for the eggs first and foremost, praying there was not some stupid sabotage where she had to give them up. Knowing this show, it was possible.

With ten seconds to go, Faith found she only had one more thing to grab. Ingredient in her hand, she headed for the pantry door once more. As Alton counted down, she and Buffy reached the door at the same time again. The blonde dug an elbow into Faith’s side, causing the brunette to step back, and Alton slid the glass door shut right in front of her nose.

_Seriously, buddy? I’m right here. Blame the pastry chef._

Alton then explained that since she was left in the pantry, he got to pick an ingredient that she would have to give up. Her first fear was that he would take the eggs, and then she would be eliminated for sure. How do you make devilled eggs without eggs?

And, lo and behold, Alton took the eggs.

Faith headed back to her station, mind not even thinking about sabotages, but instead how she could shift her dish around, make it more vegan now that she doesn’t even have eggs. Maybe she could market it as for people with egg allergies? That would work.

She was so caught up in recreating her dish that it almost made her miss the introduction of the first sabotage. The only reason she came back to earth was because assistants wheeled in a giant glass tub on a table filled with what looked to be dirt.

“If you buy this sabotage,” Alton began, “you can force your opponent to harvest their utensils by digging through a grave!”  He then explained to them it wasn’t dirt, but a concoction made mostly from cocoa powder. Regardless, it made it pretty damn hard to get what they wanted.

Xander jumped in instantly with a bid, and Faith followed straight after. Then Buffy, and Faith naturally had to outbid her again. After their third back-and-forth, Faith glanced over at the other chefs. Cordelia had already told them she wanted to have all of her money at the end, so she wasn’t going to bid on anything. Which then left Xander, but he seemed too interested in the bidding war going on between them.

At Buffy’s next bid, Faith let her have it. Hopefully she wouldn’t get sabotaged, but the chances were high. Buffy went to retrieve the symbolic mini shovel from Alton, and she walked straight to Xander’s table and handed it to him before moving to take her place at the table beside Faith.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get worse later,” she murmured, shooting Faith a glare that the brunette wouldn’t have even caught if she hadn’t been staring at the other chef. _There’s something about her._

“We have another sabotage,” Alton started, and the second Faith laid eyes on the oversize witch’s hat, she knew it absolutely positively had to go to Buffy. So when Xander jumped in again with a bid, she placed her bid astronomically higher, so he wouldn’t be tempted to win it. No one else tried to outbid her, so she waltzed up to Alton and accepted the giant witch’s hat. Strolling back to Buffy’s table, she reached out and placed the hat on Buffy’s head. It fell down immediately, enveloping her whole face. Faith laughed out loud and returned to her station, only to see Buffy lift the hat and shoot a death glare her way.

_Game on, B._

As soon as their time started, Faith raced to her workstation. With her and Cordelia having no sabotages (aside from her missing eggs) she was pretty sure either Xander or Buffy would be eliminated. And, given that five minutes into the challenge the only things Xander had harvested was a spatula, a fork and a mixing bowl, she was pretty willing to bet the next round would be all ladies.

The thirty minutes passed much quicker than she’d thought, though time always flew in the kitchen. She’d managed to get her egg-free devilled eggs plated and looking and tasting nice, and as she watched the assistants take away all the sabotages, she took the chance to observe the other dishes. Sure, she’d shouted at the other chefs while cooking, and heard their near-constant stream of complaints and expletives, but it was interesting to see the finished product. Buffy’s eggs looked surprisingly perfect, despite the fact that she had to practically only use one hand while cooking and keep the hat out of her face with the other. Cordelia’s eggs, naturally, were as expected, but Xander’s looked a bit worse for wear. Faith wasn’t even sure what he managed to get from his ‘grave’, but it had eaten up at least half of his time, she knew.

The judge entered the room, and tasted each of their dishes one by one. Faith was surprised to learn that the little blonde pastry chef actually had a knack for devilled eggs, as he praised hers the best out of all four dishes. Faith tried to find it in her to be bitter, but she was more impressed that Buffy managed to do it with such an annoying sabotage. She had to mix with a hat over her face! Faith would have probably broken the hat if she’d had to deal with that.

In the end, however, the grave proved too much of a time-eater and Xander was sent home. Faith nodded to him as he left. The dude seemed cool. Less pretentious than Cordelia, and less rage-y than Buffy.

Once Xander exited the room and they were prepped for the next challenge, Alton announced their dish. It was a ‘witch’s stew’ which Faith basically took to mean as just a plain stew. Like with the first round, Cordelia had the longest legs and was closest, so she reached the pantry first. Faith tried to stoically ignore Buffy, but the blonde bumped into her one too many times while gathering ingredients.

“Stop that,” Faith snapped as she stood on tiptoes to reach something for her stew. _God I hate being a short chef._

“You stop,” Buffy bumped her in the side again, causing her to lose her balance. Faith tossed the item in her hand into her basket and turned to face Buffy.

“What is your problem?”

“What is _your_ problem?” Buffy bit back. “You’re the one who thinks being a dessert chef isn’t a respected position!”

“Can you even cook anything else?” Faith tried to grab another ingredient, only succeeding in moving a foot before Buffy stopped her.

“Well duh, my devilled eggs were way better than yours.”

“Because you had dumb luck mixing it up,” Faith laughed a little. “You couldn’t even see what you were doing.”

“Thanks to you,” Buffy nearly growled.

At that moment, their argument was interrupted by Alton entering the pantry.

“I’m going to have to take something from both of you,” he said as he approached, perusing both of their baskets for the most essential ingredient.

“What?” Buffy started indignantly, but Faith had already caught on.

“You started this little fight that made us miss the countdown,” she glared daggers at the other chef.

“As if!” Buffy began to get riled up, but Alton stepped away, an item from each of their baskets in his hands, declaring they were free to go. Buffy stormed out of the pantry and Faith followed, a smirk of amusement on her face. At least Alton hadn’t taken something too vital this time.

They walked back to their stations and a smiling Alton introduced the first sabotage for this round. There were two assistants dressed in white sheets with holes cut out, clearly being ‘ghosts’. And Alton explained that they were ‘mischievous spirits’ that would wreak havoc in the kitchen while the three of them were trying to cook. And winning a bid would give you immunity to their antics.

Buffy started the bid, and Faith countered. She looked over at Cordelia briefly, but the other brunette was stoically keeping her mouth shut. _Smart move. Good to keep all your money._

But it was so worth spending the cash to make Buffy wear that stupid hat last round.

Eventually, Faith gave in and Buffy actually clapped her hands. One of the ‘ghosts’ went to stand near Cordelia, and the other came to stand beside Faith. It was much closer than she was comfortable with – close enough that she could have (and should have) elbowed him in the stomach – but that would have been unprofessional and unacceptable. So instead she settled for throwing herself into bidding for the next sabotage: swapping all utensils for wooden stakes.

Faith grinned at Cordelia, knowing that she would spend as much as she had to in order to give Buffy a sabotage this round too. No way was the perky blonde getting through without a challenge.

Despite Buffy’s counter bids, Faith won out, and she happily delivered the pile of stakes to Buffy’s cook station as another assistant took all her utensils away. No spoons, no knives, no anything. Just stakes.

Faith was pretty amused with that. Buffy seemed like the kind of girl who would slay vampires. So maybe it was appropriate.

The timer began and they ran to their workstations, Fait nearly tripping over the ‘ghost’ who was supposed to shadow her. On the whole, it wasn’t an awful round, at least in Faith’s opinion. Sure, her annoying shadow swapped all her salt for sugar at one point, but she’d turned around just in time to catch him, so she was able to get the ingredient back. Cordelia, she knew, wasn’t so lucky. After putting two pinches of sugar in her stew, she had to start again. The most annoying thing to Faith wasn’t that her ghost kept stealing ingredients, or her spoon, or taking her pot off the stove when she wasn’t looking, it was the fact that he didn’t seem to know how to move out of her way. A few colourful words later – and many shoves to the side – and he eventually got the hint.

While she cooked, Faith watched Buffy from the corner of her eye. Fortunately for the blonde, the stakes she was given were a variety of sizes, shapes, and sharpness. There was even one that made a half-decent knife, though Buffy kind of butchered the meat she was attempting to cut. It was an amusing sight to see her stirring the stew with a wooden stake, though. And so worth the money she’d spent.

Eventually, when all sabotages were cleared and the judge came to taste, Faith was pretty proud of the stew she’d plated up. It helped that she only really had the ghost sabotage, and it was like looking after a child in the kitchen. Not that she’d really know what that was like, but her mother acted that way a lot so it was kind of the same thing.

Luckily for Faith, Cordelia had suffered more with the ghost sabotage than she did. The too-sweet stew got the stingy chef sent home, and Buffy and Faith exchanged a glance. So it was just the two of them in the final round. _How great._

Faith could sense that Buffy was practically itching to get to the pantry, even before Alton announced what their final dish was. She was almost bouncing on her toes, and the sight was equal parts infuriating and adorable.

Once Alton let them go into the pantry, both chefs raced to gather ingredients for their blood orange dessert. Faith had no doubt Buffy would make a pastry dish, and the girl didn’t disappoint, grabbing all the telltale ingredients first and foremost. Faith’s first priority was the blood orange, the rest could come after that.

Thankfully, both of them kept their mouth shut while in the pantry, so they were both able to hear Alton’s countdown this time, and both get out without sacrificing an ingredient. For Faith, someone who had lost an ingredient each round prior, she found it a welcome change.

Alton announced their first sabotage for this round as a weird looking Whack-A-Mole type box was wheeled out.

“If you win this bid, you can force your opponent to swap their entire ingredients basket for whatever pops up out of these holes!” Alton explained, way too gleefully, in Faith’s opinion. Instantly, she knew she couldn’t lose this one. After losing ingredients each round – including _eggs_ for her fucking devilled eggs – she simply refused to give up any more. She was looking forward to making her dish this round, and nothing was going to change that.

Buffy seemed to sense her intent, and backed away from the bidding almost straight away. Maybe it was the glint in Faith’s eyes. She wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, it worked.

Alton came and took Buffy’s basket away, and the blonde actually pouted. Faith bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud, knowing she’d incur the girl’s wrath. As soon as Buffy’s basket was out of reach, the challenge began.

Faith ran to her cooking station and began unpacking ingredients. Across the room, she could see little pumpkin-looking bowls popping up from the holes in the box Buffy was standing in front of.

“How you doin’ over there, B?” she called as she started to prepare her dish, sabotage-free so far.

“Shut up,” the blonde shouted back as she ripped the lid off a pumpkin only to find toy vampire teeth. “I’m not even getting food!” she complained to the room at large. Faith laughed, her focus equal parts on her dish and the struggling chef.

At the sound of Alton’s voice a few minutes later, Faith looked up. Buffy’s basket was nearly full, she noted. And, lo and behold, it was clearly pastry ingredients. She was going to be pushed to make something in time, Faith suspected, but since the blonde had spent the last minute just waiting on blood orange to pop up, there might be a chance she would actually beat her.

“Your next sabotage,” Alton continued, and Faith tried to cook and listen and watch Buffy all at the same time, “is a little… restrictive.” He hauled a giant bag of salt onto the counter beside him. “Win this sabotage, and you can force your opponent to make themselves a protective salt circle, outside of which they cannot step.”

Restricting the area in which someone could cook? Faith just knew Buffy needed it. But, apparently, not as much as Buffy thought she needed it. With an astronomically high starting bid, Faith knew the other chef wasn’t going to stop until Faith was the one in a salt circle. So the brunette backed down, shaking her head and laughing a bit as Alton carried the salt bag over to her work station.

“Here you are,” he said with a smug smile. “You can’t cook any more until you’re protected.”

Thankfully, the bag wasn’t as heavy as it looked, and Faith was able to pick it up easily. She carried it around the kitchen, spilling salt in some shape that most certainly wasn’t a circle, being sure to include both her prep station and her cook station and the utensils cabinet.

_Hey, no one said there was a limit on how big this thing could be._

Circle complete, Faith headed back to her station to continue her dish. Buffy, having seized some blood orange, was at the bench beside her, cooking frantically. Faith kind of hoped her dish turned out half-decent, just because it seemed so amusing to watch that it should be worth something in the end.

With her salt circle so large, Faith didn’t really have any trouble until the next sabotage was announced. And since, right from when Alton started talking, there was an assistant by his side, Faith knew it would be trouble.

Alton described, with a smirk, how the next sabotage would be for this assistant to replace their arms, like a zombie. They don’t have full or proper control. Faith imagined tiny Buffy struggling to instruct the guy what to do with his hands, and she laughed as she placed the opening bid.

It appeared, however, that Buffy wasn’t having any of it. Faith let her continue bidding, ramping up the price, until she backed out and accepted defeat. The assistant came over with what looked to be an apologetic smile, and Faith looped her arms behind her back, letting the assistant put his arms through the spaces she created.

It turned out, after a few minutes and a few dropped ingredients, that it wasn’t so bad to have someone else’s hands. Sure, it felt incredibly odd, and she wanted to use her own hands to punch him in the face once or twice, but once she got the hang of actually telling him what she wanted him to do with the food, he managed to get it. And they plated up a half-decent dish, in her opinion.

When the challenge was over, Faith exchanged high fives with her ‘arms’ and he moved away. The giant box was wheeled away, and someone swept up her relatively ineffective salt circle. Then the judge walked in and Faith could see, for the first time, a hint of nervousness in Buffy’s eyes. Having to entirely change your dish at the last minute isn’t an easy feat – Faith had firsthand experience with that – but Buffy had plated up pastry that actually looked alright, and apparently tasted pretty good too.

As he listed the good and bad qualities of Faith’s dish, she started wondering exactly who was going to win. They seemed pretty evenly matched in terms of taste, adherence to the theme, and presentation.

“And the winner is,” he held out the suspense so long Faith had the urge to vault her table and shake him, “both of you. You each get to take home your prize money. The dishes were perfectly even.”

Buffy actually cheered out loud, a huge grin splitting her face, and the sight caused Faith to smile as well. Sure, she was here to win a bit of money, but it was mostly about the glory. Mostly about winning and saying she was actually a _Cutthroat Kitchen_ champion. At least she could still say that.

Buffy shot her a smug grin, as though she was the true winner, and Faith rolled her eyes. _Right. Sure, B._

After the cameras stopped rolling, and the chefs were asked to hang around for a bit, Faith wandered the kitchen admiring the decorations. They’d really gone all-out with this Halloween theme, with the spiderwebs adorning the utensils station, and the creepy pumpkin heads placed on various surfaces. That was to say nothing of the random fake bloody heart she ended up standing beside. Who even had one of those?

“Hey,” a soft voice said from behind her shoulder, and she turned to look. Buffy was standing there, looking less angry than Faith had seen her all day. At least that was something.

“Hey,” she greeted back. Maybe it was because the cameras weren’t rolling any more, or maybe because she was still riding the high from her win, but Faith didn’t find herself so infuriated by the blonde any more.

“You did good today,” Buffy complimented her, and Faith clenched her jaw in order to prevent it from dropping open like a fish in surprise.

“So did you,” she managed to get out. “I mean, you won and everything.”

“So did you,” Buffy echoed, actually laughing a bit. Faith couldn’t help but notice when she smiled genuinely, her eyes sparkled in the loveliest way.

As Buffy turned to leave, Faith found herself wanting the other girl to stay. She couldn’t pin down why. Maybe because fighting with the blonde was the most fun she’d had in a while. Maybe because she felt they were equally matched, mentally speaking. And even though she was the far superior chef, Buffy could probably teach her a thing or two about desserts.

“How would you feel about maybe teaching me how to make some prissy pastry dish sometime?” Faith joked, noticing Buffy’s eye roll. “I would give you,” she cast her eyes around for the perfect object, “my heart,” the plastic heart in her hand, she laughed as she extended the object to Buffy.

“Ew,” Buffy grabbed the fake heart and set it back on the table beside them. “Please don’t.”

“What, you don’t want to help me?”

“I never said that,” Buffy rolled her eyes again. Faith wondered if she could strain a muscle doing that. “But I may cut out your heart if you make one more pastry joke.”

“Cross my heart,” Faith made a little X over the fake heart sitting on the table, which caused Buffy to laugh. She instantly knew she had to do whatever she could to replicate that sound.

And, at the end of the day, exchanging phone numbers with Buffy was almost better than winning the competition itself.


End file.
